All posts tagged retreats

– but deadlines are approaching

Even with a conventional mindset, you can appreciate what an Acem retreat has to offer: a swim in the lake, a walk in the woods, a room with a view, and interesting conversations with people from various parts of the world. The benefits of spending a week of your summer holiday sitting alone in your room with closed eyes for several hours a day may be less obvious. In fact, however, long meditations are where you pave the way for more fundamental changes in your life. Read more…

This year’s international summer retreats help you recharge your batteries, and make subtle changes in the direction of your life. You save €100 by registering and paying before 1 June.

The regular international summer retreat teaches you to practise meditations beyond the three-hour level, while the international deepening retreat has meditations of at least six hours a day. All international retreats have English as their working language, often with translation into other languages.

Meditation retreats help you to recharge your batteries, and to change your direction when needed.

You can choose from a number of different types. On some retreats you can stay for a weekend (or even shorter), on others you stay for a whole week (or even longer). On regular retreats you learn to practise meditations of 3-4 hours a day (or shorter), while on deepening retreats you meditate for 6 hours a day (or longer). International retreats are in English (often with translation into other languages), while national retreats are usually in the local language.

“I find I often press down too hard on a string when I play the guitar. It doesn’t sound good. I get too excited and want too much.” He bows his head over the guitar again. After four new attempts, a soft, beautiful blues tone emerges to fill the newly renovated study. His face lights up and he smiles, satisfied. He practises 15-20 minutes every day. Trying to find the flow.

With the guitar on his lap, Rune Grønn looks around. Everything has been redecorated. The whole house has been made over – with his own hands. He is a carpenter and builder, and has spent a lot of time and money on reconstructing his father’s childhood home, originally a 1920s cabin and now a small house where Rune lives. If you didn’t know, you would think everything was brand new. He speaks about the work enthusiastically, with professional pride and ambition, and a concern for the traditions of earlier generations. On our way out of the study, we notice another guitar. A double-decker model airplane and half of a miniature boat are also prominently displayed. The image of the toy boat and the model airplane, in the study of a grown man, literally hangs in the air.

“Long meditations bring us closer to the universal and the timeless aspects of existence, shared by all mankind, beyond language, image or thought,” says Dr. Are Holen. Every summer, he directs weeklong international retreats of Acem Meditation.

Over the years, many people have benefited from Dr. Holen’s dialogues on meditation and existential questions. Summer retreats build on the experience that Acem has accumulated during almost 40 years. Participants are brought up to date with the latest developments in the psychology of Acem Meditation.

A retreat is an opportunity to meet Acem meditators from many countries and cultures. Some are beginners, while others have been meditating for many years through different stages of life.